The Real Tommy Kessler

Famous for his long hair in one of Broadway’s longest running musicals, Rock of Ages, and his Mohican haircut during his time on stage with Blondie, ﻿Tommie Kessler﻿ is Blondie's baby﻿, having joined the band in 2010. Born in Springboro, Ohio, Tommy was initially trained in classic and Latin-guitar styles before venturing over to the dark side of rock. Highlighting his eclectic nature, he cites many artists as influences, including listening to Pantera and Megadeath in his youth. (Just wait until Blondie start covering those beauties.) If that doesn’t keep him busy enough, he’s still on the staff of Rock of Ages, is a writer and producer, and up until recently, he played in the part-rock part-performance group, Blue Man Group, in New York. For his role in this ensemble, he ‘neoned out’ and played the Chapman Stick/Zither and is now endorsing Kauer Guitars. He uses a Kauer Starliner and Daylighter with Blondie.

Like most musicians today, Tommy has used the internet to promote himself, in particular on YouTube, and it was his uploaded videos that helped him secure his role in Rock of Ages, which first opened on Broadway in 2008. He has also licensed five of his own penned songs to the Network channel, Nickelodeon, and has recorded jingles for consumer brands such as Pizza Hut, KFC, General Motors and FedEx. Despite this author’s slight obsession, Tommy doesn't class himself as famous and recently stated in an interview with Pittsburgh Music Magazine that to be a successful musician today, one must be prepared to work for others. During the same interview, he also stated he's often asked by friends to speak to youngsters to inspire their involvement in music. His advice to young musicians just starting out is to get the music right and then step up the focus on networking, planning and to well…‘just go get it’.

Tommy Kessler is dynamic in his attitude to music and diverse in his work, which ranges from live performances to studio work, alongside writing his own material. Never limiting himself to one genre, Tommy Kessler is the role model for all upcoming musicians, as he seems to have got the balance just right!

ATOMIC TOMMY

Tommy Kessler Interview at the O2 Academy, Sheffield 2014:

﻿Chune Chat caught up with Tommy once again for a follow-up interview to find out what he's been up to over the last year.﻿

Garry: Thanks for agreeing to this interview.

Tommy: You’re welcome.

Garry: We just wanted to find out what you've been up to since we last met. I think it was July 2013?

Tommy: One year ago.

Garry: Yeah.

Tommy: All right. I may need to think about it and check my calendar (laughs).

Garry: You completed the English tour and then you went on to tour America, didn’t you?

Tommy: Yeah, we did. We had a lot of fun over here. The fans are great, so it's always great to come back to the UK. We've been in Europe the last few weeks, and those have been great, too. The fans in the UK are very energetic, and it translates well on stage. We're very happy to be back.

Garry: You did Times Square at New Year?

Tommy: Yeah, we played Dick Clark’s show, ‘Rock in the New Year’. That was on New Year’s Eve, and I learned what hypothermia feels like.

Garry: It was cold then? (laughs).

Tommy: Apparently, I got a small dose of hypothermia that night because I was out there in a t-shirt and blue jeans and a jacket, and I think it was only seventeen degrees.

Emma: The rest of the band seemed a bit more wrapped up.

Tommy: They might have been. I have a bad habit of under dressing (laughs).

Garry: What were your fingers like, playing the guitar?

Tommy: It was fine, two songs--just held my breath and did it. The week afterwards, I was just sore. I was told I had hypothermia--muscles just cramped up, got tight. I had no idea. Anyway that was fun. What else did we do? We did the NME awards in February. That was great. We did eight songs, and it was a lot of fun. Again UK fans. That was a really sweaty show.

Garry: You flew over for that?

Tommy: Yeah, we did one or two other shows. We did a lot of BBC things and studio stuff. We were here about five days, and here we are again, and we're back in August.

Emma: Where will you be in August?

Tommy: I’m not too sure. I think we come back August fifteenth.

Garry: So more dates will be announced?

Tommy: I guess. I think it'll be half UK, half European dates again. Hopefully, we'll hit some places we don’t hit now, like Ireland and Scotland.

Garry: Hopefully, we'll get to see you again?

Tommy: I’m sure we'll be here. We always make it somewhere in the UK.

Emma: Head north.

Tommy: Head north? Okay. I don’t know where we are actually.

Emma: Closer to the middle right now.

Tommy: London is south, right?

Emma: Yeah.

Tommy: I'm happy to head north.

Garry: You did the Super Bowl as well?

Tommy: Oh yeah, we did. We did the Super Bowl because this year it was in New York. They closed off Broadway, and they did a lot of shows and had bands playing. It was like a street party--people as far back as you could see down Broadway. I think we were on 40th Street, and there were loads of people. Broadway was packed. It was really fun, and it was freezing as well (laughs), but this time we had heaters on stage (smiles).

Emma: At least the UK has a more moderate climate.

Tommy: Yeah. New York, when it gets hot, stinks, and when it gets cold, the sidewalks freeze. It’s not very pleasant.

Garry: Can you tell us about Glastonbury? How was that on Friday?

Tommy: That was awesome. The crowd was amazing, again UK. So now you just have to multiply it by 200,000 people. I'm not sure how many people were there, but it was really fun. My favourite moment was probably Heart of Glass, when Debbie starts putting her hands up in the air. I always find it fun to watch. How many people are gonna do this, and then everyone does it, as far back as you can see, even right back to the entrance, which was full of people. It was packed. The guys who work there were saying to our production team that they've never seen that many people there at the other stage.

Garry: You opened the stage?

Tommy: No, we were second.

Emma: Seems no one remembers the first act (laughs).

Tommy: Actually, the first one was a surprise. They were a really big band. I knew one or two of the songs. I just can’t remember the name of the band, though. I didn’t know the name before, but as soon as I heard the songs. I knew them. (The first act was The Kaiser Chiefs.)

Garry: Were they an English band?

Tommy: I can’t remember. We'll have to Google it. Whatever it is, just ‘insert this band here’ (laughs). They were really good and they were packed. I went out there for them. We were all sceptical about who was going to show up for the twelve-fifteen slot at Glastonbury at the second stage. So it was really nice when we went out there and it was packed. We did our part as Blondie, but they did their part, as they were a big name and a surprise act. Once people found out, everyone shifted. They got their cell phones and alerts, and everyone headed over. So it was good because it helped everyone carry over to us. It was great, but as I said, the Heart of Glass one was the best, seeing seventy to eighty thousand people all doing it, mostly the same way.

Garry: So compare it to the Isle of Wight, as last year, you cited that as a highlight?

Tommy: Yeah, the Isle of Wight was great, too. It was nice because it was at night time. My first time at the Isle of Wight, it was at night, and you saw the Ferris wheel in the background, and we were on the main stage. I think we played right before The Strokes, if I recall. I feel more comfortable about Glastonbury because I’ve been in the band three years. The Isle of Wight show was my third show with the band. So I had a lot on my mind.

Emma: Well, it’s a good way to break you in (laughs).

Tommy: Ha-ha. Yeah, I had a lot of things I was thinking about in that show. And then we played Isle of Wight last year. The second time we played Isle of Wight, it was during the day, and again it was like the second stage again, and that was as much fun.

Garry: But I bet the night time has more atmosphere.

Tommy: Yeah, you get to see everything, and that Ferris wheel is cool to see. You see a sea of people and then a giant Ferris wheel. It get’s ya going, it’s fun. It gives you energy and inspiration. That's what you're always looking for when you're up there.

Garry: Are you still in Rock of Ages?

Tommy: Yeah, the show is still going and going strong. I think you guys had one over here in London for a while, and I think there's a touring one. Yeah, people love that show. I think I've done about fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred shows on that one. We estimated that one, one day me and the other guitarist did that. He plays the night ranger, so he does a lot of shows too, so we spend a lot of time together. We were just talking about it one day trying to figure out how many we'd done. I think, overall, there have been two thousand two hundred performances. It’s been a lot of fun. Again, it’s the same situation--the show is better when the audience is enjoying it. You look around and you see that; it makes you wanna do better.

Garry: The final thing is just to ask you what have you been up to in your studio?

Tommy: Let’s see.

Garry: It’s the Nukes, isn’t it?

Tommy: Yeah, my partner on that moved out to LA because he got a publishing deal. You know, all my networking and my people are in New York. There were three of us and the other writing partner is in New York as well, so we stayed there. We go back and forth, but that stuff has kinda gone to the waste side. We're now working with a DJ from Greece, called Xenia. We work with her a lot on remixes and things, as she brings a nice new element to it, and she's really big over in Europe, and in Greece, she's very big. It’s nice to bring a new aspect, as sometimes American music is very similar, so when you can bring something in from another country it’s nice, a different point of view. What else? Oh, I started mixing a lot of albums. That’s what I've been spending a lot of my time on. I've just mixed an album for a band called VHT, and it’s a trio, and again, it's the guitar player from Rock of Ages, Joel.

Garry: Is the album out?

Tommy: Yeah, it just got released. I have a hard copy for me waiting back in New York, I was told. Right now, I'm editing another album on which Joel's playing guitar and Tony Frankland's playing the bass. Tony Frankland's from the firm. He's great--being a mixer and mixing the album I hear everything; it’s all very under the microscope. VHT is psychedelic rock; there are some Led Zeppelin moments, very proggy. If you know Tony Frankland’s bass playing, it's all fretless, and he does a lot of effects, and he really doesn't how to manipulate the fretless aspects, like sliding notes and the pitches--it’s a very cool sound. Joel is a monster guitar player; he plays whatever he hears in his head. There's a lot of stuff going on, and it’s great and very cool. It’s musician's music. There are some moments when the general public are likely to listen to it, but that lasts for a couple of minutes, and then it's off to musician’s music again. It’s a lot of fun to listen to for me. And Joel has another album coming up that I'll be editing.

Emma: Do you see yourself doing more of that type of work?

Tommy: Yeah, I have a lot of fun mixing albums because I've spent so many years mixing my own music whilst trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. It just started coming around, and I have a knack for it, I guess. Everyone seems to like the mixes I do. It’s good. I hope to keep doing that.

Emma: Will we have a Tommy Kessler solo album?

Tommy: No.

Emma: It’s off the record then?

Tommy: I don’t have time for that.

Emma: If you did have time would you want to do it?

Tommy: If I have time, sure. I've no idea what it would be because I do so many styles of music. If someone said, ‘Tommy take a year off and do a solo record and we'll pay for it and everything is covered’, I wouldn't know where to start. I've got years and years of tapes and hard drives full of stuff. I guess the idea of having to go through all that to put together and album or even a starting point for an album kind of overwhelms me. I'm constantly thinking about what I need to do for other people, mixing and writing or learning new music here, like one of Debbie’s award shows. I'm constantly learning new things. I don’t have time to think about an album for me yet.

Garry: So you're totally unselfish, really.

Tommy: Ha-ha, but if I'm giving on that side, I can be selfish on everything else (laughs).

Garry: Thanks for the chat.

Tommy: You’re welcome have fun tonight.

Interview by Garry Urwin and Emma Louise Taylor

Chune Chat caught up with Tommy backstage at the O2 Academy, Newcastle:

Can you tell us a little about your background and how you first got into music as a career?The short version is: my mam’s a pianist, and when I was young, she wanted me to learn an instrument. It wasn’t going to be the piano, so I chose the guitar because of Eddie Van Halen, and Slash, and all those guys. I saw Eddie Van Halen play live, and that was when I decided I wanted to play guitar.

So where are you actually from? You’re not from NYC?No, no, no. I'm from Springboro Ohio, which is just south of Dayton.

So how did you end up in New York?I did a production of Cats with my mam in Ohio. People from NY were brought in to do the show. It was a twelve-week run. I decided to go to New York to see what it would be like. One thing led to another, and I did an off-Broadway show and then The Blue Man Group. This was followed by Rock of Ages, then Blondie.

How do you manage to cope with the travelling and juggling different jobs?Right now, I’m just juggling two: Rock of Ages and Blondie. It’s pretty easy, as I have subs on Rock of Ages. When I go with Blondie, I just set my schedule up.

Did you have to do an audition for the Blondieposition?Yes. Matt recommended me to the band. Debbie called me up, and I went to her place and hung out for a couple hours. She said I should go meet Chris. So I ended up spending a day up in Woodstock with him. I honestly only played about forty-five seconds for him. Then I played with everyone but Clem in a rehearsal in NYC. I first played with Clem at the sound check for the TV Land Awards.

Did you find the transition strange, playing in The Blue Man Group and Rock of Ages to playing in a live touring band?No, because I’ve been able to keep everything close to my personality on the guitar. Rock of Ages is eighties music, along with covers, and that’s what I’ve learnt how to play. With The Blue Man Group, I had to learn to play new instruments. Then I just applied my own personality, the way I play things within their structure and the same thing with Blondie: learning the songs and playing them the way I would within the context of the band.

So what style do you play? Have you ever been compared with anyone?No, I don’t think I have, but I’m sure I sound like somebody. I don’t think I have a defined sound. I don’t think anyone’s going to say: that’s the Tommy Kessler sound, but who knows!

Do you know when the new Blondie album is going to be released (Ghosts of Download)?I’ve no idea—probably late 2013 is the word on the grapevine.

Have you got a favourite song you like to perform?I really like Take Me In the Night. Let’s see, what else? I like Rave and Rose—they’re all good songs from the new album.

Are there any older songs you like to perform and play?I always like Dreaming. I’m very happy we’re playing Dreaming now and Atomic—Atomic is fun, not just because of the guitar solo. I like the bulk of the song. I also like One Way or Another, which is always fun to play. It’s an easy song and it’s just like rock. It’s guitar riff, guitar riff, guitar riff, you know, it’s fun.

What’s the tour been like so far? Are you enjoying it?Yeah! It’s great over here. I love coming over here because the crowds are totally different to those in the United States, even Australia. They’re just more excited to see us, I guess. I like the venues over here because they’re old theatres and clubs. The floors are sticky, packed, and sweaty. I like that sort of thing!

You played an old theatre in Ireland—134 years old, I think.The Olympia—yes, that was it. Three tiers. Yeah, it was great. We’ve played there a couple of times. It’s a really fun theatre to play. I like everything and the standing places.

What have the audience’s responses been like? Have they been good?Yeah, the reviews I’ve been reading are the most positive since I’ve been in the band, especially with the new album and material we’re playing.

You have a big American tour coming up. What are your thoughts about that?In the fall—I’m excited because that’s when I get a chance to see all my friends and catch up with my family.

Which country you haven’t already toured would you like to?I think South Asia. I’ve never been there: Japan, Thailand, all those areas. Basically, north of Australia is the furthest I’ve been. And a full European thing would be fun. We seem to come to the UK and just dabble a little bit in Europe. It’s always a little tease.

Is there going to be anything special in the show tonight? Anything different?Not that I know of, but it is the fourth of July, and I’m sure you’ll hear the Star Spangled Banner a few times. American Woman, I don’t know! I’m sure Chris or Matt or I will play something. In between songs, you’ll hear a glimpse of something.

What are the memorable moments of your career so far?It’s got to be the Isle of Wight 2010. It was amazing when we played on the main stage right before The Strokes, I think. It was an evening performance with a packed crowd. It was great fun. Also when Rock of Ages played at Radio City for the Tony Awards. It was one of the wildest sights when we started playing Don’t Stop Believing. Everyone in the audience had lighters. It was pretty cool to be on stage.

Do you write songs and do any production work?I write a lot and have a production team. I’m part of a team called The Noox, and we’re actually writing and producing an album right now for an artist. I can’t really say much more than that. I talk about a lot of my music on Instagram, writing and record and post pictures, but I can’t really put music out because it’s material protected by copyright and I can’t release it.

Tommy, have you ever thought of having your own band—nothing lasts forever?No, not now. I used to. Everyone wanted to have their own band when they were growing up and played an instrument. I’m going down the writing and production route. Being a producer is what I do. I spend most of my spare time in the studio, and at night, I play with Rock of Ages. That’s the thing I miss, being out here on the road, not being able to go into the studio to write with my team, my partners back in New York. Other than that, everything’s a blast.

Can you play any other instruments, Tommy?Yeah! I try and pick up any instrument with strings. I used to play the violin. I don’t think I could play one now, but I play pedal steel, lap steel, banjo and mandolin.

Which instrument would you most like to learn?I'd love to play the pedal steel efficiently. I can hack my way through it slowly, as needed for a song, but I’d love to just be able to play one well. There are very few people who can play it very well.

Moving back to your production work, I’ve noticed you have a lot of gadgets. Do you like to experiment with different instruments, music and sounds?Yeah! It’s always fun to experiment. I have a lot of guitar pedals and noise makers in my studio. I just try different things at all times; it’s always fun. If you have the guitar, bass, drums, keys and vocal, I think 'Let’s put an envelope filter and a distortion on someone clapping their hands and see what happens! '

What’s the most important thing in your music career?Being able to do it for the rest of my life. That’s the most important thing to me.

What’s the most important thing in your personal life?My family and a few people outside my family, my friends—I spend a lot of time in my studio, so I’m working. Normally, my friends are my acquaintances and my co-workers. Most of the people I work with are friends. I can count on one hand those people who aren’t involved in the two different areas.

If you could meet any person and thank them for their music, who would it be?That’s a tough one, Probably Randy Rhodes, I spent a lot of time playing his music, idolising him, and studying what he did. I don’t really remember a lot of it now, which is kind of funny, but it really built up a lot of endurance and strength. I just listened to it and loved watching him play and perform with Ozzy. That made me want to become a musician. I wanted to find the singer who was looking for the guitar player and walk in and audition.

I’m going to New York next year. Can you recommend any Broadway shows to see?I don’t know what will be showing next year. Shows open and close every month. Right now, I’d say Book of Mormon—I hear it’s great, and I love South Park, so if it’s anything like South Park and as good as people say it is, I’d probably love it.

What gives you the most motivation to keep you going in your musical career?Hearing new music. Every time new music comes out, I start to get excited, wondering what they’re doing with the production side of things. I find it interesting and cool and wonder how I can replicate it in my studio.

If you could change something in the music industry to make it better and improve it, what would you do?I’ve always been happy to change with the times, so it’s hard for me to want to change something. There are a lot of guys who preach and say it should be like the old days. I just go with it, whatever it is. I make sure I understand what it is and why it’s working. It’s a shame we don’t have bands anymore. I guess it would be that: getting people to go out to see bands play live at dive bars. That’s how all the bands everyone knows started: they played in small bars to nobody, and people actually stuck around the opener and stayed for the rest of the bands. Nowadays, people walk in, see their friends, and leave after they’ve seen their buddies. I’ve been guilty of that. I’m sure a lot of people these days are guilty of it. It’s a shame people just don’t make a night of it. It’s tough, though, because there are a lot of things to discourage it, like heavy cover charges. In the United States, you pay ten dollars every door you go into. That hurts.

Have you got any advice for up-and-coming bands?Release as much music as possible.

Do you mean quality music?Yeah! Well, not even quality. People like to hear rough demos, the real you, even if it’s a rough recording. They have fans and release a rough recording of a new idea, like a song that isn’t polished yet. The fans enjoy it; they like that bootleg stuff. It’s like the equivalent of having a bootleg from a concert back in the seventies or eighties on a cassette tape. It’s like a band releasingthe equivalent of a garage recording of a new song.

I've listed some words. Can you pick out the ones that are most important to become successful? Talent, money, contacts, timing, determination, luck or location.Can I pick two?

You can pick three if you like.I’ll choose two: determination and luck—you need a lot of luck. I think determination will create your luck, if you’re driven and determined and push yourself into the right areas in the right environment and surround yourself with the right people. It’s all determination you know! That’ll create your luck and open up doors. You can’t just sit around and expect luck to move on.

I was taken aback and slightly surprised Tommy chose ‘Luck’, but come to think of it, it was luck that got Blondie the breakthrough they needed. They didn’t have much talent at first, like most bands starting out, and they would probably agree. But with determination, they created their own luck when an incompetent Aussie DJ played the wrong side of their single, X Offender, and In the Flesh got to number one in Australia. And from that they got a tour and eventually came to England and never looked back. In my eyes, that Aussie DJ is a hero.

Fan Questions

Why do you have your acoustic guitar on a stand?It’s so I can go back and play electric right away, switch from one to the other.

Tommy, when you took over from Paul in 2010, how where you approached, and was it a difficult decision taking into account the success you where having on stage with The Rock of Ages?Matt recommended me to play guitar; he took my name to Debbie, Chris and Clem, and they did whatever research they did, and Debbie give me a call, and that’s how that went on. It wasn't a difficult decision with the Rock of Ages because the way a Broadway show works is I can schedule my subs, so it was a pretty easy decision for the most part. The most difficult part was, do I want to disappear on tour for three to six months a year; that was the hardest part, and it still proves the hardest part because I just want to go back to New York and keep writing music--hard to do that on the road. But there's that burning part of me that wants to perform on stage, which is also fun. When you get out there, there’s nothing like it.

Did you ever dream you would play in such an iconic band?I was pretty confident I'd get somewhere. Did I dream? I didn't know who or when or where. Again, it’s just that determination and luck, I was confident enough to have the determination and that luck through contacts. I put myself everywhere.

What kind of car do you drive?I do drive, but right now I don’t have a car you're going to want to hear anything about because I live in New York, so I don’t really need one. But it wasn't an American car when I use to have my cars and race them. I had two Supra twin turbo’s 94 and 97.

So if you could get a car now what would it be?On a budget, it would be a Dodge Viper. I love the Dodge Vipers, I love the V10. There's nothing like that engine and that sound; they were just like a go-cart, especially the older ones before they got ABS, just like a whole lot of engine and rear-wheel drive, and you had to know how to drive it. With no budget, probably a Saleen S7 American car.

When Is your Birthday Tommy?October seventeenth.

Talking about birthdays, Debbie has just had hers. Did she do anything special, and did the band do anything special for her?We had a dinner, and we all bought her little gifts and stuff like that, nothing extravagant. We celebrated two other birthdays. For the last three or four years, we've always been out on her birthdays.

Will the new album, Ghosts of Download be available as a fan pack with a collectors magazine like Panic of Girls?I feel that the general idea around the band was a success, especially in the UK, and I think they'll do something, throw something together for that, It seemed as if a lot of people liked it. It sold pretty well over here.

That’s the end of the interview, and I thank you for taking time out to answer a few questions, Tommy.Thank you!

Scored with original song "Lovin' What Ya Got" written by Tommy Kessler and Carlo Colasacco

Scored with original song "Thoughts" written by Tommy Kessler and Carlo Colasacco.